Cabeen to TaxFACTS: 'Put Your Mouth Where Your Money Is'

Candidates and elected officials sometimes criticize TaxFACTS privately, but they rarely take the citizens group to task head on, perhaps for the sake of civil discourse or concern about the flak they might receive in response, from the podium or the comments field.

Not so for Robert "Larry" Cabeen, the former School Board candidate who gave the TaxFACTS organization a small dose of criticism at Monday night's meeting.

"Put your mouth where your money is," Cabeen said. "It might actually cut costs."

Cabeen stepped to the podium during the first public comments portion of the Board of Education meeting at Williamsburg Elementary School. He offered well-wishes to the board members who won election and commented on technology spending, for which he advised a "go slow" approach.

"This is an example of a positive suggestion, and that brings me to my last subject: the TaxFACTS group," he said.

Cabeen said, following the election, four of the seven School Board members "at some time or another were backed by TaxFACTS." He said that should make members of the citizens group happy but knew it wouldn't, in part because School Board members quickly come to understand that every issue is more complex than counting dollars and cents.

"A good school system like Geneva's unavoidably costs money, but it's worth it," Cabeen said. "In fact, it's worth it to many of us who don't even have a student in school."

He said the TaxFACTS group "has been negative, backwards-looking for the entire time I've been attending board meetings" and that "TaxFACTS ideas can be unworkable or simply wrong."

He also pointed out that TaxFACTS members' Freedom of Information Act requests make up the majority of requests in 2012, which he said is counterproductive because it drains money and time from School District 304.

"In fact, I can't think of any positive thing they have done, and I've watched the board for years," he said. "TaxFACTS: It's time to stop."

Cabeen suggested TaxFACTS members "do something good," such as go to a play, attend a school concert, participate in mentoring or do volunteer work.

Cabeen ran for a School Board seat in 2011 and 2013, and did not win election in either race. 

"Sometimes not being on the board allows you to say things you might not otherwise say," Cabeen said.

In the second public comments portion of the meeting, TaxFACTS was defended by Geneva Township Assessor Denise LaCure.

"When I see TaxFACTS coming through my door, I think, 'Not again,' " she said. "It is annoying to some degree."

But LaCure also said the questions TaxFACTS members ask can be helpful.

"If you treat them with integrity and as taxpayers, the response I get is very good," she said. "As a citizen, I appreciate the transparency they bring. And as an elected official, I believe our first obligation is to the taxpayer."

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